In Nigeria, the demand for charcoal is up. While that's good news for charcoal producers, others worry about the charcoal industry's impact on the environment. They want the government to prioritize the supply of liquified petroleum gas to Nigerian households to help curb the destructive environmental and health effects of the charcoal trade.
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Nigeria’s Lagos State has announced a ban on the usage and distribution of styrofoam and other single-use plastics with immediate effect.
The Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab announced on Sunday, January 21 adding that the decision was reached, following the menace which the single-use plastics, especially the non-biodegradable Styrofoam, were causing on the environment.
He said most drainage channels in the state were daily clogged up by styrofoam through indiscriminate distribution and usage, despite the regular cleaning and evacuation of the drains.
Commissioner Wahab directed the State Waste Management Authority, LAWMA, and the Kick Against Indiscipline, KAI, to immediately commence implementation of the ban.
He asked the two agencies to clamp down on all the production companies and distribution outlets for styrofoam in the state to prevent further distribution.
The commissioner advised producers, distributors, and end-users of styrofoam packs to take the ban seriously and find alternatives or risk heavy fines, and other penalties, including sealing of their premises.
He warned that they could also be made to bear the costs of the daily cleanup of their products from roads and drainage channels which runs into tens of millions of naira daily.
“Our state cannot be held hostage to the economic interests of a few wealthy business owners, compared to the millions of Lagosians suffering the consequences of indiscriminate dumping of single-use plastics and other types of waste,” he stated.
He advised consumers and residents to boycott styrofoam packs and single-use plastics and imbibe the practice of using reusable food containers and water bottles for their food and drinks.
Africa News
Related story: Women in Nigeria lead drive to upcycle plastics
For years, Maryam Lawani was really pained when it rained. She lived in the Oshodi Isolo area of Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, where canals often overflow messily into the streets during downpours.
Additionally, she was always struck by the huge amount of plastic waste on the streets after the rains receded and how this in turn affected mobility or even made the roads deteriorate. After even a little rain in Lagos, the streets get muddy and potholes brimming by the side with broken plastics, gin sachets, pure water nylons, used diapers and other items.
“I felt a strong need to prevent climate crises as a response to a personal pain point,” she told Al Jazeera. So she began to research the recurring problem and then discovered that plastic pollution was a global issue.
According to the United Nations, on average, the world produces 430 million tonnes of plastic every year; wrappers for chocolate bars, packets and plastic utensils. And there are consequences; every day, the equivalent of over 2,000 garbage trucks full of plastic are dumped into water bodies. As a result, plastic pollution is set to triple by 2060 if no action is taken.
UN reports also say that Nigeria generates about 2.5 million metric tonnes of plastic waste annually. Of that, over 130,000 tonnes of plastic make their way into water bodies, putting the country among the top 20 contributors to marine debris globally.
And while Nigeria has several dumping sites for waste, those in the environmental sector like Olumide Idowu, executive director for International Climate Change Initiative, say there is no exact data on their number or capacity to handle large volumes of waste sufficiently.
So waste has visibly caused blocked drainages and pollution, even as climate shocks like floods hit parts of sub-Saharan Africa. This is most obvious in Lagos, the country’s most populated city, with an estimated 24 million people.
Challenges
Compared to other developing countries like Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania, which have banned single-use plastics or are gradually eliminating them, Nigeria hasn’t done much to combat plastic pollution, experts say.
In 2020, the Ministry of Environment launched the Nigeria Circular Economy Policy to help transition the country to a circular economy and promote sustainable waste management. But Idowu says proper waste collection and recycling facilities are still needed for Nigeria to tackle plastic pollution effectively.
“Nigeria may also need to strengthen existing regulations or introduce new ones to address plastic pollution,” he says, adding that the country’s large population could also be a challenge in enforcing them. ”[But] economic constraints and lack of alternative packaging options may hinder the transition away from single-use plastics.”
“As more individuals, businesses, and the government recognize the value of upcycling, it is likely that the sector will grow and contribute to a more sustainable and circular economy in Nigeria,” Idowu says.
Climate Lead’s Oladosu says there is a need to involve as many people as possible in the movement for a cleaner, greener Nigeria.
“We need to make people understand that climate change is real, and it will affect everyone regardless of where they live, Ajegunle or Lekki,” she said. “We can all feel the heat of the sun, the impact of flooding, etc. There are different angles to mitigating climate change and recycling is just one. Another is responsible consumption. There is a need for everyone to be climate and environmentally conscious.”
The recycling mission
During her research, Lawani discovered she could recycle plastics to help clean up the neighbourhood mess. So in 2015, she founded Greenhill Recycling which now recovers an average of 100-200 tonnes of waste monthly, she says.
Her business also provides a means of supplemental income for people around her, by paying them around 100-150 naira ($0.1265) for every kilogramme of trash collected.
“We encourage and sensitise people not to thrash waste but to bag them neatly in their homes,” she told Al Jazeera. “We pick up from their doorstep, their homes and not in dump sites.”
“Waste is a currency to address other issues around poverty, unemployment and the environment. People are able to exchange waste for profitable things like school fees, clothes and even food,” Lawani added.
Like Lawani’s Greenhill Recycling, several other women-led upcycling and recycling companies have sprung up in Africa’s largest economy, in addition to the well-known Wecyclers social enterprise.
In coastal Lagos, RESWAYE (Recycling Scheme for Women and Youth Empowerment) works in communities with women and young girls who are trained to go into schools and estates to retrieve plastics. Their collections go to a sorting hub and from there to upscalers.
Doyinsola Ogunye, founder of RESWAYE told Al Jazeera that it has reached 4000 women in 41 coastal communities in Lagos, while also giving personal hygiene kits to them and providing scholarships for children.
There is also the nonprofit Foundation for A Better Nigeria (FABE) founded by Temitope Okunnu in 2006 to create awareness about climate change in schools. It operates across three states.
“We visit primary, secondary schools and universities to sensitise young children about climate issues,” she said. “Behavioural change is still a big issue in this part of the country which is why we are focused on young children.”
Through an initiative called EcoSchoolsNg, it teaches students skills such as sustainable waste management – by recycling, upcycling or composting – and sustainable gardening.
FABE says it promotes plastic upscaling because according to Okunnu, “plastic is money but only a few people know this”, she told Al Jazeera.
The increasing awareness about recycling plastic into usable products can also be great for keeping youth engaged, says Adenike Titilope Oladosu, founder of ILead Climate, a climate justice advocacy.
The need for more work
Despite the work of these women and numerous non-profits to educate Nigerians on the adverse effects of climate change, ignorance is still widespread.
Passengers in moving vehicles still casually fling sachets and bottles onto the streets just like others sweep household waste into canals.
For Lawani and Okunnu, this is more evidence of the need to ingrain awareness of the environment and related consequences in their fellow Nigerians at all income cadres, from a young age.
“Exposed and enlightened young children are well aware but less privileged children whose concern is how to get the next meal may not be concerned about this so we need to direct our attention to them, sensitise people, help people find a link,” Lawani said. “People can easily relate to blocked drainages so teach people at their level. Help them see these links and connections and how it affects them too.”
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A deal struck at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to “transition away” from fossil fuels received a less-than-hearty welcome Wednesday in Nigeria, which depends on crude oil sales for most of its budget.
Nigerian leaders said that their nation needs funding if the world wants it to move away from the production and use of fossil fuels.
The United Nations’ COP28 summit closed Wednesday with the signing of a deal to transition away from oil, gas and coal in what the text called a "just, orderly and equitable manner" in hopes of reducing carbon emissions and ease global warming.
It is the first such agreement to move away from fossil fuels since the annual conferences began nearly three decades ago.
The deal also seeks to triple renewable energy capacity globally by 2030 and promote carbon capture technologies that can clean up hard-to-decarbonize industries.
The president of the COP28, the UAE’s Sultan al-Jaber, praised the deal but said its success would be measured by how well it is implemented.
Peter Tarfa, former climate change director at Nigeria's Federal Ministry of Environment, agreed, saying, “This is not the first time that decisions have been taken in climate change discussions ... that they have not been fully implemented. It is actually in the best interest of the climate that all hands should be on deck."
Others are not so pleased with the deal. Members of the OPEC oil-producing countries, including Nigeria, initially resisted calls by more than 100 nations for stronger measures, such as a complete “phase out” of fossil fuels.
Salisu Dahiru, director of Nigeria's National Council on Climate Change, attended a plenary session in Dubai on Wednesday.
"There's no fairness, justice, equity” in asking developing countries to “start ditching fossil fuels,” Dahiru said.
“These fossil fuels are necessary for developing countries to taste the goodness of development,” he said. “What we've always stood for is decarbonizing the oil and gas so that we get cleaner fuels.”
Critics argue that decarbonizing technology is expensive and a diversionary tactic by countries so that they can continue to produce fossil fuels.
Oil accounts for 95% of Nigeria's foreign exchange earnings. Tarfa said authorities must begin to look elsewhere to grow Nigeria's economy.
"There's a lot of investment now going on toward the green economy pathway,” he said. “For Nigeria, we cannot act in isolation. … The phaseout or phase down of fuel consumption will definitely impact the economy, but now the time has come for the government to start diversifying to other sources."
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, writing a column for CNN published Wednesday, said that Nigeria had initiated programs to transition from fossil fuels but that the country needs $10 billion every year until 2060 to achieve its transition plan.
Tinubu also criticized developed nations for failing to honor a pledge to give $100 billion to poorer countries to mitigate the effects of climate change.
By Timothy Obiezu, VOA
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President Tinubu says Nigeria needs quick US funding for energy transition
In northern Nigeria, climate change is reshaping the landscape. More frequent heat waves as well as heavier and prolonged rainfall have led to increased challenges for the locals. Climate activists want the government and other stakeholders to devise a plan to address the issue.
In northern Nigeria, climate change is reshaping the landscape. More frequent heat waves as well as heavier and prolonged rainfall have led to increased challenges for the locals. Climate activists want the government and other stakeholders to devise a plan to address the issue.
A remarkable concert in Abuja saw the convergence of young music lovers and climate activists determined to use the universal language of music to amplify their message about the dangers of global warming.
Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu said on Monday the United States should help with more funding to help Africa's leading oil producer accelerate its energy transition plans as he pledged to meet the country's climate change goals.
Oil remains Nigeria's biggest foreign exchange earner and like many African nations, Nigeria argues that it still needs to exploit its hydrocarbons to help provide power to millions of citizens without electricity.
In a meeting with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Energy Resources, Geoffrey Praytt, Nigeria's president said the U.S. should speed up funding to help the West African nation achieve its energy transition goals.
"There are bottlenecks that must be unbottled in terms of how the U.S. bureaucracy responds to our needs. Help must be given when it is needed. Please take it home that we need help and very quickly too," Tinubu said.
"I want to assure you that Nigeria will honour her obligations on climate change and renewables," he said.
Nigeria's previous junior petroleum minister told U.S. climate envoy John Kerry last September that there was "some moral basis" for Nigeria to get funding from rich nations to meet its climate change goals.
Under Tinubu's economic plans, Nigeria would ramp up oil production to 4 million barrels per day, from an average 1.4 million bpd, which has raised questions on whether the country is still committed to its climate change goals.
By Felix Onuah, Reuters
One such community dealing with the impact of rising sea levels is Ayetoro in the southwest Ordo state. A substantial part of the land has now been washed away. Scientists say climate change is primarily responsible.
Desperate to survive, many locals fleeing raging floods which have wrecked their homes and livelihoods are also forced to depend on floodwater for sustenance.
For displaced inhabitants of northern Bayelsa’s Odi town, who have found new homes in roadside shacks and tent shelters with no access to running water, stagnant floodwaters are the only available alternatives for drinking, cooking and bathing.
As she rinses her uncooked fish in dirty floodwater next to her neighbor doing his laundry, local trader Chigozie Uzo shares her fears of catching a waterborne disease.
“I’ve heard of cholera,” she told CNN, “but I don’t have a choice than to use this water.”
Meters away from Uzo, a young girl aged no more than five years old squats to urinate in the same floodwater she had rinsed her pot and plates in.
Humanitarian agencies fear the floods will contribute to a health disaster and Nigeria has already seen a rise in cholera infections as floods ravage many parts of the country.
According to UNICEF, “more than 2.5 million people in Nigeria are in need of humanitarian assistance – 60 per cent of which are children – and are at increased risk of waterborne diseases, drowning and malnutrition due to the most severe flooding in the past decade.”
A rise in cholera infections could be devastating for the country as the World Health Organization warns of a “strained global supply of cholera vaccines.”
Bayelsa and 30 other Nigerian states have reported thousands of suspected cholera cases, the country’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) said in a recent report.
Bayelsa is among 33 of 36 Nigerian states grappling with the devastation of the country’s worst flooding in a decade. More than 600 lives have been lost in floods across the West African country, its government says, and almost 1.5 million people have been displaced, according to the country’s humanitarian ministry.
Aniso Handy, 56, has remained in his house in Odi, which has been overrun by water.
“I still live here,” he told CNN as he paddled his canoe into his flooded living room before making his way to a dry room upstairs.
“My family doesn’t stay here because of the flood and for their safety … but I know how to swim,” he said.
For some in the community, such as 27-year-old Igbomiye Zibokere, this is not the first time they have experienced the devastating effects of flooding.
During the last major flooding in 2012, her sick mother drowned in her room when water engulfed their home, she told CNN.
“My mum was ill when the floods came in 2012. The water level was high and my sister and I couldn’t carry her. All we could do was cry as she drowned in her room,” Zibokere said.
Zibokere, who is a petty trader, said she returned from the bush near her home in early October to find it taken over by water. The water level rose to her neck and they were forced to leave the house.
She and her young children are now homeless and living rough in a makeshift tent by the roadside.
“We are in a canopy. If it rains, the canopy would be blown away by the wind and we’ll be beaten by the rain. I’m suffering now. No food to eat or water to drink,” the mother-of-five said.
Displacing the living and the dead
In Bayelsa’s capital Yenagoa, located 28 kilometers (17 miles) from Odi, floods have displaced not just the living but also the dead.
In Yenagoa’s Azikoro village, residents said bodies have been seen floating in floodwaters around a local cemetery.
Adjusting to life wading through the stench of the stagnant water isn’t the only worry for residents of Azikoro as the cost-of-living skyrockets in Bayelsa due to the floods.
With major highways underwater, Bayelsa has been cut off from the rest of the country. Boats have become the only way to get around much of its environment.
To get to Bayelsa, travelers pay around 2,000 Naira (less than $5) to get on a packed tipper truck to cross flooded roads.
Those unable to afford the fee can be seen wading through the water carrying what little possessions they can.
Nigeria’s current flooding has been attributed to above-average rainfall and an overflowing dam in neighboring Cameroon. But the situation has also been exacerbated by poor drainage infrastructure, environmentalists have said.
With a warmer climate causing more intense rainfall, authorities also blame climate change for the floods. In the meantime, the country aims to tackle one of the major causes of its flood problems by holding bilateral talks with Cameroon on the periodic opening of its dam, Nigeria’s humanitarian ministry said.
“We must initiate a bilateral discussion with authorities in Cameroon next month (November 2022) on the periodic opening of the Lagdo dam,” a statement by the ministry said last week.
Complaints leveled at authorities
But weeks since the flooding began, Nigeria’s government has yet to declare the flood a national emergency.
Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, told local media last week: “It’s certainly an emergency situation but it all depends on what you mean by the declaring state of emergency. We have not reached a situation in my view where the relevant emergency management authorities have not been able to deal with this situation.”
Handy isn’t pleased with the government’s response.
“Nigerians are used to managing. If not, we would have all died,” he said. “Nigerians care for themselves, we’re more like infants that have no father or mother.”
Authorities in Bayelsa say they are racing to provide relief items for the thousands displaced.
According to the local government, around 20,000 people now live in displacement camps, where they are provided “two meals daily” along with “medical services, potable water and other emergency aids.”
But for Zibokere, government efforts are rarely felt in her community.
“When relief items are sent to the community by the government, individuals handling them distribute most of it to their relatives. The rest of us are left in hunger,” she said.
Bayelsa government spokesperson Daniel Alabrah said the government was aware of these complaints.
“We hear some of those complaints but we cannot verify them because while some claim not to have gotten the relief materials, others say they got it,” Alabrah told CNN. “These reports help us to monitor the process to see that relief materials get to the persons they are intended for,” he added.
With the rains still coming and more expected through November, more intense flooding is imminent, the Nigerian government warns.
By Nimi Princewill and Larry Madowo
CNN
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Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has directed relevant government agencies to develop an action plan for the prevention of flood disasters in the West African country.
According to the president’s spokesperson, Garba Shehu, Buhari directed the Minister of Water Resources to lead and coordinate with the Ministries of Environment and Transportation as well as State Governments to develop a comprehensive plan of action for preventing flood disasters in Nigeria.
Nigeria has been hit by perennial floods that caused the loss of hundreds of lives and massive destruction of property.
Currently, more than 2.5 million people in the country are in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations.
Flooding has affected 34 out of the 36 states in the country this year, killing more than 600 people and displacing 1.3 million people.
The UN says the country has recorded a rise in cases of diarrhoea and water-borne diseases, respiratory infection, and skin diseases.
Shehu noted that President Buhari is regularly receiving updates on the flooding situation and is committed to addressing the challenges caused by the disaster in the country.
By Jerry Omondi
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In Nigeria’s oil-rich Bayelsa state, nearly one and a half million people have been affected by severe flooding. The government is promising emergency supplies to deal with severe shortages of food and fuel. Ahmed Idris reports from Yenagoa.
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People wade through fast-flowing water, holding one another to avoid being swept away, balancing suitcases, clothing and food on their heads.
The torrent was, until recently, the East-West Road in Nigeria's Rivers state, the gateway to the nation's oil and gas.
Now parts of Rivers, along with large swathes of 32 other states, are inundated by the worst flooding in 12 years.
"We cannot access Ahoada West anymore," local government chairman Hope Ikiriko said of the area he represents. He said 30 boats were helping to move people to camps built to accommodate the area's 150,000 displaced.
"We are going to rescue people who hitherto never wanted to quit," he added.
Nigerian authorities said Rivers, Anambra, Delta, Cross River and Bayelsa states remain at risk of flooding until the end of November.
The flooding has killed more than 600 people, displaced around 1.4 million and damaged or destroyed 440,000 hectares of farmland. Health officials warn it could worsen an ongoing cholera outbreak, and even natural gas exports are at risk.
Authorities blame heavy rains and a water release from the Lagdo dam in Cameroon. Experts say global warming, and poor planning, worsened the disaster.
"Climate change is playing a big role in this," said Hiba Baroud, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Vanderbilt University. "But the other component is...the vulnerability of the infrastructure. This is how we end up in a disaster like this one."
The 2021 Notre Dame Global Adaptation Index ranked Nigeria among the bottom 20 nations in its readiness to adapt to climate change.
Baroud said a Nigerian dam meant to backstop Cameroon's Lagdo was planned, but never completed. A lack of zoning allows houses in flood zones and poor irrigation places farmers at the edge of rivers that can inundate their fields.
"It's going to have cascading effects on diseases, on food security and so on," Baroud said.
By Angela Ukomadu
Reuters
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Nigeria LNG has declared force majeure because of widespread flooding that has disrupted supply, a spokesman for the company said on Monday.
The declaration could worsen Nigeria's cash crunch and will curtail global gas supply as Europe and others struggle to replace Russian exports due to the invasion of Ukraine in February.
NLNG said all of its upstream gas suppliers had declared force majeure, forcing it to make the declaration as well.
"The notice by the gas suppliers was a result of high floodwater levels in their operational areas, leading to a shut-in of gas production which has caused significant disruption of gas supply to NLNG," spokesperson Andy Odeh said.
Odeh said NLNG was determining the extent of the disruption and would try to mitigate the impact of the force majeure.
Flooding in Nigeria has killed more than 600 people, displaced 1.4 million and destroyed roads and farmland. Officials have warned that the flooding, caused by unusually heavy rains and the release of water from a dam in Cameroon, could continue into November.
NLNG's supply had already been limited due to prolific oil theft that has slashed output from what is typically Africa's largest exporter. NLNG had exported roughly 18 cargoes in September, according to Refinitiv data.
Nigeria relies on fossil fuel exports for 90% of its foreign exchange and roughly half its budget. Crude oil exports fell below 1 million barrels per day (bpd) on average in August, the lowest level since the 1980s, due to theft that has exceeded 80% on certain pipelines.
Crushing fuel subsidy costs have also kept Africa's most populous nation from benefiting from this year's surge in oil prices.
By Libby George
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Aid workers in Nigeria are struggling to reach hundreds of thousands of people displaced by floods. Floodwaters have hit the country’s oil-producing region in the south, after devastating northern, central and eastern parts of the country. Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris reports from Atani, one of the worst-hit areas in southern Nigeria.
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Nigeria is battling some of its worst floods in a decade. Heavy rains have affected the south for weeks. More than 300 people have died and many houses have been destroyed by flood, causing many to ask whether the flood disaster is natural or manmade. Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker reports.
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In Nigeria's food basket state, floods wash away homes, crops and hope
Nigerian officials say at least 500 people have been killed and 1.4 million displaced in the worst flooding in a decade. Officials say floods have affected nearly all of Nigeria's states and 90,000 homes have been partially or completely destroyed.
The permanent secretary of Nigeria's ministry of humanitarian affairs and disaster management, Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, announced the latest figures during a media briefing Tuesday in Abuja.
He said more than 1,500 people were injured and that the disaster had an impact on farmland across all but five of Nigeria's 36 states.
It is the worst flooding to be recorded in the West African nation since 2012. Authorities say heavier than normal rainfall and the release of water from a dam in Cameroon are to blame and have promised to help communities cope with the impact.
Isah Garba, who heads a community of farmers and fishers in Agabroko, in Central Kogi State, said the floods wreaked havoc on his people. He said his village was completely submerged, destroying farms of rice, corn, and even animals. He added that about 20 people died, mostly kids.
Thousands of people from Garba's area and neighboring villages are taking refuge on dry land several kilometers away from their homes. But there's limited access to basic amenities there, and the government's aid has yet to reach them.
Sani-Gwarzo said authorities have approved emergency action to mitigate the impact of the flood nationwide. He said a national emergency response plan will take into account other communities not directly hit by flooding.
Thirty-eight-year-old Fatima Adamu, who lost her livestock, is among those who say they need help. She said she lost 15 goats, and those that remain are falling sick.
The National Emergency Management Agency says that so far, it has reached some 300,000 people.
Meanwhile, Nigerian weather forecasters have warned that more flooding could be in store.
By Timothy Obiezu
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In Nigeria's food basket state, floods wash away homes, crops and hope
Flooding remains a major climate change concern in Nigeria. Over the years, irregular rainfall patterns have left many displaced from their homes and farmlands destroyed. One Nigerian entrepreneur is however changing the narrative with a newly adopted solution to flooding.
